THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



AUSTRALIAN INSECTS 



By A. MUSGRAVE. 



l._"WHITE ANT" COMMUNITIES 









The!lead was eaten through by "White Ants" so that they could attack the wood in the roof of the 

 Museum. The nest shown on the left was removed from a beam in 1896. 



Australia is very liberally endowed 

 with representatives of the family 

 Termitidae. which includes the ter- 

 mites, or as they are more popularly 

 but wrongly named "white ants." 

 This family is near the order which in- 

 cludes such familiar insects as cock- 

 roaches, grasshoppers, mantids, but 

 apart from a very similar social life it 

 has no affinities with the true ants. 



"White ants" are chiefly found in 

 tropical and sub-tropical countries, 

 but three species are known to occur 

 in Southern Europe and one in 

 America, as far north as ^Manitoba, 

 Canada. Australia is rich in species 

 and their nests are common through- 

 out the country. Thousands of 

 pounds are annuallv spent in combat- 

 ing this insect pest, which is perhaps 

 the worst against which we have to 

 contend. The damage done to the 

 roof of the Museum on the occasion 

 of a visitation in 1896. was so ex- 

 tensive that the entire roof had to be 

 replaced. A remarkable feature of 

 this invasion was the perforation of 

 sheet-lead by the persevering insects 

 in their efforts to reach the wood. 



Pyramidal Nest of Eutermes pyriformis 

 at Cape York. 



?holo A. R. UiCuWoch. 



